10

Behold I am about to cause to cease from this place,
Before your eyes, and in your days,

The voice of joy, and the voice of mirth,

The voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

AND it shall be, when thou shalt have declared unto this people all these things; and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath JEHOVAH pronounced against us all this great evil? and what is our iniquity, and what our sin, which we have com11 mitted against JEHOVAH our God? then shalt thou say unto them;

BECAUSE your fathers have forsaken me, saith
JEHOVAH,

And have followed after strange gods,

And have served them, and worshipped them,
And have forsaken me, and not kept my law:

12 And ye yourselves have done still more wickedly than your fathers,

And behold ye follow every one the lusts of his own wicked heart,

Without hearkening unto me;

13 Therefore will I cast you forth from out of this land

14

Into the land which ye have not known, ye nor your fathers;

And there shall ye serve strange gods day and night;

Because I will shew you no favour.

After this, behold, the days shall come, saith
JEHOVAH,

When it shall no more be said, AS JEHOVAH liveth,
Who brought up the children of Israel out of the
land of Egypt:

15 But, As JEHOVAH liveth,

16

Who brought up the children of Israel out of the north country,

And out of all the lands whither he had driven

them;

For I will cause them to return unto their own land,
Which I gave unto their fathers.

Behold I will send for many fishers,

Saith JEHOVAH, and they shall fish them :
And afterwards I will send for many hunters,
And they shall hunt them from every mountain,
And from every hill, and from the holes of the
rocks.

17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways;

They are not hidden from before my face; Neither is their iniquity concealed from the sight of mine eyes.

18 And I will requite in a double proportion their iniquity and their sin,

19

Because they have defiled my land by the vileness of their odious practices,

And their abominations have overspread mine he-
ritage.

O JEHOVAH, my strength, and
my fortress,
And my refuge in the day of distress;

To thee shall the nations come from the ends of

the earth,

And shall say, Truly our fathers have falsely possessed vanity;

And there is not amongst them any that can profit. 20 Shall man make gods for himself,

When they themselves are not gods?

21 Therefore behold I, instructing them at this time, Will make known to them my hand and my might; And they shall know that my name is JEHOVAH.

1

CHAP. XVII.

THE sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, With the point of a diamond it is engraved,

Upon the tablet of their heart,

And upon the horns of their altars:

2 While their children remember their altars and

their groves,

Near the green trees,

And upon the highest hills.

3. O my mountain, thy substance in the field, And all thy stores will I give up to pillage,

Thy strong holds, because of sin, throughout all thy borders.

4 And I will dismiss thy glory from the inheritance Which I have given unto thee;

And I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in a land

Which thou hast not known;

Because a fire is kindled in mine anger,

It shall burn continually.

THUS saith JEHOVAH;

5 Cursed is the man who putteth his trust in man, And maketh flesh his arm,

And whose heart turneth away from JEHOVAH. 6 For he shall be like a blasted tree upon the waste, Which is not sensible when good cometh ;

But is continually exposed to scorching heats in the desart,

A barren land, and uninhabitable.

7 Blessed is the man who trusteth in JEHOVAH, And the object of whose confidence JEHOVAH is. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the water side,

Ꮮ

9

Which by the side of the stream sendeth forth

its roots,

And is not sensible when heat cometh;

But its leaf is

green,

And in a year of drought it is without concern,
Nor doth it decline bearing fruit.

THE heart is wily above all things;

It is even past all hope; who can know it? 10 I JEHOVAH search out the heart,

And try the reins;

To give to every man according to his ways,
And according to the fruit of his doings.

11 [As] the Kore, that hatcheth what it doth not lay; [So is] he that getteth riches, and not according to right: 1

12

In the midst of his days he shall relinquish them,
And he shall be a felon in his latter end.

A glorious throne, set on high from the begin-
ning,

[Is] the place of our sanctuary, the object of the hope of Israel.

13 O JEHOVAH, all that forsake thee shall be confounded,

14

15

And shall be recorded in the earth for revolters, Because they have forsaken JEHOVAH, a fountain of living waters.

Heal me, O JEHOVAH, and I shall be healed;

Save me, and I shall be saved;

For thou art the object of my praise.

BEHOLD, these say unto me,

Where is the word of JEHOVAH? let it come now. 16 But I have not been in haste to outrun thy guid

ance;

And the fatal day have I not desired;

Thou knowest that which hath issued from my lips,

It hath been before thy face.

17 Be not thou a terror unto me,

Thou art my refuge in the day of adversity.

18 Let my persecutors be confounded, but let not me be confounded;

19

Let them be dismayed, but let not me dismayed;
Bring thou upon them the day of calamity,
And with redoubled destruction destroy them.
THUS said JEHOVAH unto me;

Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Judah come in, and through which they go out, and in 20 all the gates of Jerusalem: And thou shalt say unto them, Hear ye the word of JEHOVAH, O ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, that pass through these gates, 21 Thus saith JEHOVAH, Take heed unto yourselves,

and carry no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring 22 ye in through the gates of Jerusalem; neither bring forth any burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither transact ye any manner of business; but keep ye holy the sabbath day; accord23 ing as I commanded your fathers: but they hearkened not nor inclined their ear, but stiffened their neck, so as not to hear, and so as not to receive 24 instruction. And it shall be, if ye will indeed hearken unto me, saith JEHOVAH, so as not to bring in any burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to keep holy the sabbath day, without transacting thereon any manner 25 of business: then shall there enter in at the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots, and upon horses,